Cuffs

Cuffs arrived on BBC One in October 2015 as a conscious throwback to the DNA of The Bill: a grounded, street-level police procedural rooted in the everyday realities of frontline policing. Set in Brighton and the surrounding Sussex coast, it followed officers of the fictional South Sussex Police as they dealt with everything from drug raids and violent crime to the petty absurdities that clog up a modern police shift.

Created and written by Julie Gearey (Prisoners’ Wives, Secret Diary of a Call Girl), the eight-part series balanced grit with wit, combining visceral incidents with a strong vein of British black humour. One moment officers might be confronting a booby-trapped cannabis farm or an elderly farmer’s wife wielding a shotgun; the next they’re mediating between naturists on the beach, chasing reports of middle-class dog-napping, or breaking up scuffles between pensioners. That tonal flexibility became one of the show’s defining strengths.

The ensemble cast was one of Cuffs’ greatest assets. Ashley Walters led the series as PC Ryan Draper, a by-the-book tutor constable and widowed single father, offering a sharp contrast to the gangland roles that had made him famous in Top Boy. Walters brought restraint and quiet empathy to a character defined by responsibility rather than swagger. Opposite him, Jacob Ifan (A Discovery of Witches) made an impressive debut as PC Jake Vickers, a nervous new recruit who also happens to be the son of his boss and is navigating both the pressures of policing and his own identity whilst trying to deal with the terminal illness of his mother Debbie, played by Clare Burt (Holby City), and Robbie Gee (Sexy Beast) as Inspector Graham Webb, the duty inspector at Brighton Central police station. Outside the force, Andrew Hawley (Borgia) is Simon Reddington – a no-nonsense lawyer and the duty solicitor at Brighton Central police station who has an attraction to Jake which the young officer very much welcomes.

Amanda Abbington (Sherlock) gave warmth and complexity to DS Jo Moffat, a capable CID officer whose personal life is compromised by a damaging affair with Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers, played with weary authority by Peter Sullivan (Around the World in 80 Days). Shaun Dooley’s (The Witcher) DC Carl Hawkins added humanity and humour as a junior detective juggling ambition with family life, while Paul Ready (Motherland) emerged as the show’s most intriguing presence as DI Felix Kane — a withdrawn, enigmatic investigator whose emotional opacity, and his visits to late night brothels, made him oddly compelling.

The supporting cast, including Eleanor Matsuura as PC Donna Prager – an authorised Taser officer, Alex Carter as PC Lino Moretti as an out-of-shape cop, Karen Bryson as Custody Sgt Melanie Pyke and Bhavna Limbachia as PC Misha Baig – a Muslim police officer, ensured the station felt lived-in, diverse and believable.

Visually, the series made striking use of its coastal setting. Brighton’s seafront, beach, arches and the charred remains of the West Pier provided a fresh backdrop rarely seen in British crime drama, reinforcing the sense that this was a police show operating outside the usual metropolitan template. Despite its pre-watershed 8pm slot — the first new BBC drama commissioned there in eight years — Cuffs didn’t shy away from tough material, pushing boundaries with storylines involving child abduction, racially motivated violence, addiction and suicide.

Gearey’s writing foregrounded character as much as casework, emphasising how the pressures of the job seep into private lives rather than being left at the station door. That humanity was no accident: the writer spent two years researching the series, talking to serving officers, riding along with them and absorbing the stories that shaped the show’s authenticity. As Tiger Aspect’s Will Gould put it at the time, Cuffs took the cop show “back to basics” while remaining firmly of its moment.

Although it received solid reviews and built a loyal audience — reflected in a healthy IMDb rating of 7.3 — the BBC cancelled the series after one season to “create space for new shows.” The decision disappointed fans and cast alike, prompting public criticism and an ultimately unsuccessful petition for renewal. For many, the cancellation felt premature, particularly given the show’s success in blending humour, social commentary and procedural tension.

The series is currently (December 2025) enjoying a reshowing on Netflix and has won a new legion of fans who are now asking for more episodes. This is, unfortunately, highly unlikely.

This is a shame because Cuffs stands as a smart, energetic and humane police drama: a vibrant crossover of seriousness and satire that treated officers as complex people rather than uniformed cogs. Short-lived though it was, it remains a memorable entry in the tradition of British policing television — proof that even familiar formats can feel fresh when rooted in character, place and truth.